because He answers when we call
For days my bible and notebook, work calendar, articles for a grad school assignment and my computer have all been laid out on the kitchen table waiting for the attention they will hopefully get during one of the free moments that appear during the day. Summer has just begun and as much as I love the carefree, unscheduledness, it really cuts in to my structured, scheduled time. Irony at its finest. But then, God, in His loving-kindness grants you a morning with boys sleeping in and in a 13 word sentence gives you peace and more than a bit of inspiration.
In my distress I called out to the Lord and He answered me. Psalm 120:1
I'm reluctant to admit that I do not, on many occasions, immediately respond when our boys call out to me. There is always a bit of a hesitation before I answer. Sometimes it is due to waiting to see if they really do want something and won't just yell never-mind two seconds later, but most times its so I can take a breath and control the tone in which I answer so that the words are attached to a kind voice. This is especially needed if one or more of them have called my name fifteen times in the last five minutes to ask me to either get or do something for them or to ask me a question that they already know the answer to.
Even if, I hate to say, they in fact do call out in a distressing manner, there is still a moment of mistrust that crosses my mind, because wolf has been called before resulting in me springing from wherever I am in full panic mode to come to the aid of the caller only to find no emergency situation at hand. But God is not me-can I get an Amen-and He never fails to answer me in my distress. I know no faithfulness greater than that.
While pondering this reminder of faithful promise, I began to think how often I go about my daily routines ignoring my true need, and that even when no words were formed to ask or no attention was given to the events, my God is still in every single detail, answering my greatest needs even when it, in my forgetfulness, goes unnoticed. Yet, even still, each time I sit and read or pray, or finally let go of my control whether purposely taken or unconsciously leaned upon, He answers. Every single time my heart is uplifted, or new understanding comes, or life, as I know it, will never be the same due to the answers He gives through scripture, through others, through life experiences.
His answers carry a grand array of results and each is perfectly timed and executed for the life He has planned for each of us.
There is always the option to trudge through alone, even when His grace continues to pour out. There will always be those days that forgetting happens as we power through to get to the end, inattentive to what's carrying us there. But every time we call, He will answer, and my greatest prayer is that I will learn to call on Him just as faithfully as I know He answers when I do. It is then, when my mind is tuned and my heart is listening, that my eyes can clearly see who God is and what He has done. Because what He has done is,
You have turned for me my mourning into dancing... Psalm 30:11
...weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. Psalm 30:5
...to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. Isaiah 61:3
I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten... Joel 2:25
These are not "maybes", these are not "wills", these are "have dones" and will continually still come.
Today happens to be the anniversary of a day of restoration in my life. A day that celebrates God's faithfulness to us, the restoration power that comes because of the sacrifice of His Son, and reminder that all He said He will do, He does in fact do. Today I get to remember a time when my mourning was turned into dancing, when joy came in the morning, when beauty was created from the blackest of ash, that years have been restored to what those locusts ate away. Today I get to remember that what Satan meant for evil God meant for good.
But, it doesn't have to take a day like mine today to bring those remembrances. Each day holds newness, and within each day, no matter on which end our distresses lie on the spectrum humans have created. He answers us when we call. Every scenario, every time. There is no faithfulness greater than His. Will you spend a moment today calling out to him or pondering upon and offering up thanksgiving for a time where you did call out and He answered. I pray today you will be flooded with reminders of His faithfulness and courage to always call upon Him. Pray for me.